Miracles of the Qur’an - 2

April 26, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

In this blog, I will talk about the Scientific Miracles of the Qur’an as I explained in my previous blog. I will explain with the evidence of verses from the Qur’an that it had explained scientific phenomena centuries before the scientific age. The Miracle in all of this is that how can a book of its age explain science centuries before the modern humans did?

The miracle I will talk about in this blog is about the universe. Till 1929 we thought that the universe was static/stationary and was eternal which meant that it would remain the same forever; however, in 1929, Edwin Hubble, who was an astronomer at Caltech made a game-changing discovery, which was the expansion of the universe. At the Mount Wilson observatory above Los Angeles, he saw that galaxies were moving in space. Not only did he saw this but he also so that all of them were moving away from the Earth at incredible speeds. 

https://www.science-sparks.com/how-does-the-universe-expand/

After more observations, it was seen that the farther the galaxies were, the faster would they move away. Isn’t that strange? Think about the fact that everything in the universe is moving far apart from us? It gives me creeps just to think about it. Hence, this became to be known as Hubble’s Law. The reason for this expansion of the universe is mainly due to inertia because in the very early universe, probably before humanity, the matter was flying apart from each other for an unknown reason and this phenomenon is still taking place. Though some say it was due to cosmic inflation. Some say that there is a force called dark matter that is causing the universe to expand at an ever-increasing rate. Now, lets come to the real point. The expansion of this overwhelming universe was stated by Allah in the Qur’an [51.47], “And the Heaven, we built with craftsmanship and we are still expanding it.” After I read this verse, I was shocked that the Qur’an had stated the scientific phenomenon that changed the course of our learning about the universe. Moreover, to add on to this; the discovery of the expanding universe was the first real evidence about the creation of the universe because of the Big Bang because if the universe is expanding, then it would’ve started this process from a single point of singularity. This is how we determined that the universe was 13.7 billion years old by calculating the rate of the expansion. Even this point of singularity was explained in the Qur’an [21:30] which says, “Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?” Hence, there is no doubt in the fact that this was explained in the Qur’an. Furthermore, many other verses in the Qur’an explain more interesting scientific phenomena but that, I will explain in my coming blogs.

Stay Home, Stay Safe.

[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

Miracles of the Qur’an - 1

April 19, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1] 

The Qur’an is a book that encourages its reader to learn, examine, and ponder as well as question things so that he/she can get a clear understanding of everything that exists in his/her surroundings. It may be a holy scripture but it can also be referred to, as a scientific book that explains many scientific phenomena, which no one had, knew about in the time of its revelation. In fact, the scientific phenomena that the Qur’an explains weren’t even understandable to humans for centuries after. So basically, the Qur’an explained many of the scientific discoveries that we are doing now, 1400 years ago. In this blog, I’ll discuss about the scientific miracles of the Qur’an. I’m referring to these as scientific miracles because, how can a book that as revealed 1400 years ago, explain the science of today?

https://www.islamicity.org/20730/the-quran-and-muslim-unity/

The first scientific miracle I’ll explain in this blog is that the angels are made of light. Allah has created the angels from light and the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) confirmed this when he said, “The Angels are created from light”. Now, in a Surah 32, verse 5, it is said that, “He arranges [each] matter from the heaven to the earth; then it will ascend to Him in a Day, the extent of which is a thousand years of those which you count.” This verse explains that Allah arranges the matters (situations) on Earth that reach to Him in one day, the extent of which is a thousand years that we count. These matters are brought to him by Angels which is confirmed in the Quran (35:1) which says, “...Who made the angels, messengers with wings - two, or three, or four (pairs). The people of the time of the revelations of the Qur’an used to count years as lunar years unlike now because we use solar years now. Hence, there are 12000 lunar orbits in 1000 lunar years. If we divide these 12000 lunar orbits or 1000 lunar years by an Earth day just like the Qur’an explained in the given verse; it is nerve-racking to know that the answer is exactly 299,792.458 km/s, which is exactly the speed of light. You can search for this number on the Internet to confirm. Therefore, the miracle is that the Qur’an explained in the given verse that indeed it is the Angels, which take the matters of the Earth to Allah and they are made of light. The Qur’an also gave us the exact number of the speed of light. Isn’t this shocking that the speed of light was successfully calculated by humans in 1676 while the Qur’an had explained all of this in 632 A.D?

The second miracle I’ll explain in this blog is about celestial bodies. From the 4^th century BCE till the 16^th century, humans believed in the theory that all the celestial bodies in the universe orbited around the Earth after certain observations that the people conducted. However, in the 16^th century, Nicolas Copernicus brought forward the heliocentric model, which showed that the Earth and other planets orbited the Sun that was stationary at a certain point in the universe. Even though this theory was right, it still missed something. It missed the point that the Sun was not stationary. Recently, humans have discovered that the Sun is also moving. In fact, it moves along with its planets around the Milky Way at the speed of 28,000 km/hr and you will be shocked to hear the Qur’an had explained this phenomenon 1400 years ago. In the Qur’an, Surah 39, verse 5, it is written, “He created the heavens and earth in truth. He wraps the night over the day and wraps the day over the night and has subjected the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term. Unquestionably, He is the Exalted in Might, the Perpetual Forgiver.” As you can see, it says that the sun and the moon are each running in their own courses for a specific term. This cannot be a coincidence at all. Indeed, there is no clash that the Qur’an is the word of Allah himself who is the sole creator of everything.

The third miracle I’ll talk about is about the creation of things in pairs. As you may know that almost everything you see is in pairs. Take examples of matter and anti-matter, electron and positron. Believe it or not, Paul Dirac, a British scientist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1933 for his stunning discovery about sub-atomic particles being in pairs. However, even this was clearly explained in the Qur’an in Surah Yaseen where it is said, “Glory be to the One, Who created in pairs all things that the earth produces, as well as themselves, and other things they do not know.” As I explained, everything has a pair. Even plants have species that differ in their gender. Humans and other animals have different genders. Love has the pair of hate, bravery has cowardice. Moreover, it is also said that some of what they do not know. These may be some that are too hard for us to see or are inaccessible to us.

The fourth miracle I’ll explain in this blog is about plants and the process of photosynthesis. Most of you may know that plants are autotrophs. This means that they can produce their own food using inorganic materials from their surroundings. They produce food by using light from the sun by converting it from light energy to chemical energy. Moreover, carbon dioxide and water are also needed for this process to take place. The main natural source of water for plants is, of course, the rain that they use in the process of photosynthesis but the main thing is that when this process takes place, glucose and oxygen are the byproducts of the process. The glucose is used within the plant but the oxygen is a gas so it is release into the surroundings and is scattered around. Believe it or not, the process of photosynthesis that humans discovered in the 18^th century was explained in the Qur’an in the 7^th century. In the Surah 18, verse 45 of the Qur’an, it is said, “And present to them the example of the life of this world, [its being] like rain which We send down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it and [then] it becomes dry remnants, scattered by the winds. And Allah is ever, over all things, Perfect in Ability.” This clearly explains how water is used and then is scattered like dry remnants that is scattered by winds.

The fifth miracle that I will explain is about continental drift. In 1912, Alfred Wegener put forward the theory of continental drift, which explained that the continents were shifting positions on Earth’s surface. According to the website live science, “Although Wegener's "continental drift" theory was discarded, it did introduce the idea of moving continents to geoscience. And decades later, scientists would confirm some of Wegener's ideas, such as the past existence of a supercontinent joining all the world's landmasses as one. Pangaea was a supercontinent that formed roughly 200 to 250 million years ago, according to the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) and was responsible for the fossil and rock clues that led Wegener to his theory.” This means that since we believe that all of the continents once used to be a single supercontinent, it could be a confirm fact that the continents drifted apart to form the continents we know now. This was indirectly explained in the Quran in the Surah 27, verse 88 in which it is said, “You now see the mountains and consider them firmly fixed, but then they shall pass away even as clouds pass away. That will be the handiwork of Allah Who has created everything with perfect wisdom. He is well aware of what you do.” This clearly explains that the mountains that are placed on lands are moving apart from each other, which is of course related to continental drift because it explains the same thing.

Many people use the excuse of these miracles being coincidences but they are wrong. They should know that coincidences happen once or twice but not more than that otherwise it would be truth. Likewise, in the Qur’an, there are many verses about science, which have been proven to be absolutely true. Hence, the miracles of the Qur’an are not coincidences at all and they have also been proven to be the truth. 

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

Qur’an; Holy Scripture and a Scientific Book

April 12, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

The Qur’an is a book that encourages its readers to learn, examine, and ponder as well as question things so that they can get a better understanding of everything that exists. Even the first revealed Surah of the  Qur’an says: “Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists). He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, Who has taught (the writing) by the pen. He has taught man that which he knew not.” [al- ‘Alaq 96:1-5 – interpretation of the meaning]. As you can see even the first word of the Surah says read. This Surah was revealed when the Holy Prophet was meditating in the cave of Hira and Angel Gabriel came to him.

Image Source: https://www.learnreligions.com/quran-2004556

Moreover, the Qur’an is a scripture that was not written in jest and was to be taken very seriously as it is the book of God who created everything that we know. 

Even though the Qur’an is a holy scripture, it has 750 verses that explain and deal with a natural phenomenon or we can say Science. And so, the miracle of the Qur’an is that even though it was revealed 1400 years, it contains scientific explanations that nobody knew about it that time and so, after hundreds of years, science could research and then understand these phenomena. Take a minute and think, how can a book that was revealed 1400 years ago, explain things that we are discovering now? About the seriousness of this book, Allah says in the Qur’an, “By the sky which has the bounce; By the Earth which has the crack. Indeed, what is written inside the book is very serious and it is not in jest” (Ch 86- V 11-14). We all now know that this explains how serious the book is but wait, at the beginning of these verses that I shared, Allah swears by the Sky, which bounces and Earth that cracks, right? When we stretch space, it bounces whilst if we stretch Earth it would crack. This is a great scientific phenomenon, which Einstein discovered and explained in 1916 in his Theory of relativity. He explained that celestial bodies move in space in the fabric of space-time in which they bounce similar to someone jumping up and down on a trampoline. Moreover, we think that the Earth is made up of strong elements that hold it together but this perception was changed when a great crack was recorded in the Arizona Desert in 1927. We can clearly see that this book was revealed 1400 years ago but it explained things that a man like Einstein explains after nearly a thousand years.

Many people have a perception that the Qur’an is a storybook of the Prophets but they don’t know that they are wrong. I accept the fact that the Qur’an gives morals in the form of stories of the Prophets but, these people do not know that the Qur’an also explains parts of nearly all branches of science. This perception will change if they read the Qur’an thoroughly and reflect upon the wonders of it. Furthermore, the Qur’an is a very special book; indeed, why would it not be special when its author is the creator of everything. Indeed, we are the creations of Allah and the Qur’an is our manual that explains how these creations and the universe work. Allah challenges his creations by saying, “Say: ‘If all mankind and the jinn would come together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce it’s like even though they exerted all and their strength in aiding one another.” (Quran 17:88). It explains that if all mankind and the jinn (spirits) would come together and work as one, they won’t be able to write anything like the Qur’an.

There are many other scientific phenomena, which the Quran has explained 1400 years ago and hence, in this series, I will write blogs about the miracles of the Qur’an in the way that it discovered things 1400 years ago which science explained centuries after. I will take verses from the Quran and will explain and compare them with the scientific discoveries in regard to the topic. 

Since the time I have started reading the Qur'an with translation, it has caught my interest a lot. I hope the readers will find this blog series interesting, Insha’Allah (If god permits). 

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

Reverting Destruction - The Earth is Healing

April 5, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

As we all know that the corona has struck the whole world very hard. It has affected the whole world and has infected thousands, leading to thousands of deaths. Until now, there are 1,352,158 confirmed cases and 75,294 deaths. On the contrary to this, the world is healing itself and, in this blog, I’ll explain how the world is healing.

If we put aside the tragedies caused to humans by COVID-19. Humans have put a full stop on many global economic activities and production facilities. By this, I mean that factories have been closed down, cars on roads have reduced and many more things that are in fact, dangerous for our climate, have stopped and due to this, there have been immense decreases in greenhouse gases as well as pollution. The grand canal in Venice, which is normally brimming with boat traffic is now empty and the water in the canals has become crystal clear due to a decrease in pollution. Just take a look at this picture of the canal. 

Image Source: Andrea Pattaro, Getty Images

Just think about how beautiful the world is when there are no humans. As I explained in my previous blog, killings and genocides have also stopped due to this global emergency in places like Kashmir where people were in lockdown for months.

Moreover, in Feb, the carbon emissions in China have reduced by 25% which is an enormous number because this 25% means a 200 million ton drop in carbon dioxide. Even though this is a global tragedy and thousands are dying which all of us are agonized about but; I just want to make the humans realize that if it weren’t for them, this planet would have been much better. By this I don’t mean that we humans should’ve never existed but, I mean that if we would do small efforts to prevent global catastrophes such as climate change; we would make the life of the next generation much safer and easier. Furthermore, due to the decreased air traffic, the skies are now much clearer. The people of Beijing are enjoying blue skies after years because of the decrease in Industrial activities.

This is a picture of Beijing 3 years ago: 

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9654d4dwVmw

This is a picture of Beijing now:

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9654d4dwVmw

Just look at these images and think again, what we have been doing to this beloved planet. We still have time to take action and do something before it’s too late. Otherwise, we have nowhere else to go. We have to change the mindset of only thinking about our own betterment; we should also think about the future of the coming generations.

The satellite image below shows the changes in the levels of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere which is a very dangerous greenhouse gas. Just look at what changes have occurred just because of a few months of the absence of industrial activities:

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9654d4dwVmw

This blog was based on my opinion. The main purpose of this blog was not to say that COVID-19 is good for humans (there are people out there who make accusations like these). The main purpose of the blog was to make you realize that just because of the stoppage of industrial activity for a few months, the world is healing. Again, by this, I don’t mean that we should close down industries, no! We can use many other ways to manufacture goods without any damage to the ecosystem. If we stopped funding fossil fuels and instead, invested in renewable energy, we could produce the goods that we do now without any damage to the ecosystem. 

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

Corona hits hard

March 29, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

We, humans, have collectively caused damage to the equilibrium of nature through all kinds of means including wars, deforestation and many other things; now, in my opinion, nature is taking its revenge. However, there is still a great opportunity for us to stabilize our lives by saying no to wars, genocides and innocent killings of not only humans but also animals. Nature has given us a head start in doing so.

What is Covid-19?

Covid-19 is part of a large group of viruses (The Coronaviruses) that infect both humans as well as animals; hence, they cause respiratory illnesses in a human that can range from common colds to serious diseases. Before Corona, a very likely virus known as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) was detected in Southern China in 2002 and just like Covid-19 it spread around the world affecting 26 countries resulting in 8,000 confirmed cases; consequently, leading to 774 deaths. However, the tolls of cases and deaths due to the Covid-19 have surpassed SARS.

Covid-19 is also known as the coronavirus however; a more specific name for Covid-19 is Sars CoV-2. The most common symptoms of Covid-19 are dry cough and fever but, in some cases, it can also lead to a severe respiratory problem leading to pneumonia and bronchitis. Covid-19 can only lead people with existing illnesses or a weak immune system to these severe limits. Hence, old people are the most vulnerable to these severe respiratory diseases. Moreover, research on the early 44,415 Chinese Coronavirus patients showed that 81 percent of people affected only experienced mild symptoms. Among the remaining cases, 14 percent experienced severe respiratory illnesses. Only 2.3 percent of all the confirmed cases died due to the virus.

How Far has Corona Spread?

Till March 11, Chinese health authorities have recorded over 81,102 cases and 3,231 deaths. China has now slowed down the spread of the virus in their country due to strict preventive measures but the virus is now heavily affecting the rest of the world.

Currently, there are confirmed cases in over 150 countries around the globe. After China, the most affected country is Italy where 97,689 cases have been reported, mostly in the northern regions of the country. Consequently, 10,779 deaths have been reported in Italy.

Furthermore, Spain has also been greatly affected by the virus and 78,799 cases have been reported leading to 6,606 deaths. The Government is taking all the necessary steps to prevent the virus to spread even further. All schools, restaurants, markets, and bars have been closed.

Moreover, Iran is also facing a huge number of confirmed cases due to the virus and 38,309 cases have been reported leading to 2,640 deaths.

The USA has also been affected largely with 133,094 cases and 2,363 deaths.

How did all this start and where exactly?

As many of you probably already know that this virus originates from a seafood market in Wuhan, China. Wild animals such as snakes and birds are illegally traded in this city.

Image Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/virus-sparks-soul-searching-over-chinas-wild-animal-trade-11580055290

Most probably, this disease has been spread from an infected animal to the stall keepers and then to the customers.

The research on what caused this virus is still on and many countries are working hard to find the cause as well as a vaccine for the virus so that in the future, the virus is prevented.

The markets in Wuhan were shut down for research and cleaning on 1^st January. The chances of containing the disease have greatly deteriorated due to the spread around the world. Hence, scientists are trying their best to contain the virus as much as possible. Many of the governments of countries have shut down schools, restaurants and any other work that requires going out of the home. In my country, Pakistan, schools have been closed till 1st June to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Overview

Corona has greatly spread all around the world; there have been 708,020 total confirmed cases and 33,529 deaths. On March 11, the WHO (World Health Organization) had officially declared that the Corona virus is a pandemic. Moreover, on 30^th January the WHO had already classified this problem as a global emergency; thus, all of the countries have to work together to contain the virus and prevent it from spreading any further. The speed of the spread has been reduced however; it has not yet stopped. We should all work together and cooperate with our leadership. Please report to the nearest hospital if you experience any symptoms of the virus. Please try not to go outside your houses unless it is urgent to do so. Wash your hands for 20 seconds to remove the virus from your hands if it has reached it. 

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

From Smallest to Biggest

March 22, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

As I have explained in many of my blogs, the universe is a huge place that is literally never-ending. Not only is this so big, but it is also expanding at ever-increasing rates. It has numerous types of celestial bodies in it and so, in this blog, I will highlight some of the main types of celestial bodies in the universe in an order of how big is it.

The first and smallest celestial body in the universe is an asteroid. These things exist in the number of millions in many solar systems. The question that would pop into your mind is how did these objects form? Well, in our star system, these objects were formed in the early solar system and are the remains of the violent events of the early solar systems such as the collision of planets.

Image Source: https://www.newsweek.com/giant-asteroid-world-tallest-building-sail-earth-1487404

A strange fact is that more than 150 asteroids have been known to have moons. In our star system, these asteroids exist in the asteroid belt and Kuiper belt. I have explained in detail about these celestial bodies in one of my previous blogs.

The second celestial body that I'll highlight is a moon. A moon is the natural satellite of any planet. Our planet Earth also has a moon named Luna.

Image Source: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/earths-moon/overview/

Our moon formed due to the collision of a Mars-sized planet named "Theia" with Earth. The highest number of moons a planet in our star system has is 79 moons, which orbit Jupiter.

The third celestial body on my list is a planet. Most of you may know about what they are right? Due to the fact that we are living on the one right now.

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCDVN7DCzYE

Planets are celestial bodies that orbit a star in an elliptical orbit. In our star system, there are 8 planets. There are even planets that orbit no star at all. These planets are rogue planets who travel alone in this cold vacuum. I have explained one in one of my previous blogs.

The next celestial body that I'll explain is a star. Stars are huge glowing balls of gas mainly composed of hydrogen and helium. These stars make energy through Thermo-nuclear fusion (a very complex topic to talk about). Our star is the Sun which all of the 8 planets, millions of asteroids and many dwarf planets orbit.

Image Source: https://www.universetoday.com/16338/the-sun/

The largest known star in our whole universe is UY Scuti in front of which our star seems nothing at all.

The next celestial body I'll talk about is one of the biggest in our whole universe. It is known as a galaxy. These celestial bodies contain millions or even billions of stars and gases held together due to a strong gravitational attraction from probably, a supermassive central black hole in the center of it. Our galaxy named Milky Way alone has billions of stars even though it is not one of the biggest in the universe.

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5AdrupH788

The supermassive central black hole in our galaxy is named Sagittarius A*. This black hole is literally too big. The biggest known galaxy to us is IC 1101.

I did not explain in detail the celestial bodies because I just wanted to give an overview of the types of celestial bodies from the smallest to biggest. 

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

Strangest Planets That Exist - 3

March 15, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad

I have written multiple blogs on this topic and in this blog, just like the previous blogs, I’ll share some of the strangest planets that exist in our universe.

The first planet that I’ll talk about is CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9. This planet was discovered in 2012 by a group of French and Canadian Astronomers. This planet is a rogue planet that is intriguing. This planet orbits no star at all and wanders in the emptiness of space all alone. It has a mass of 4-5 times the mass of Jupiter, which is too much and is 130 light-years away. Some say that this planet was kicked out of its system by the gravitational force of other planets that were its neighbors. Moreover, this planet consists of a lot of heavy elements and shines bright. This planet also emits infrared radiations into space directly which means that it emits heat into space. It has an average temperature of about 400 Degree Celsius which is due to the nuclear fusion that it does. This planet may also contain methane as well as water in it. 

Image Source: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/107/the-free-floating-planet-cfbdsir-j2149472-0403089/

The next planet I’ll talk about is Psr J1719–1483 B which is a very strange planet due to the fact that it orbits a Pulsar. Now, Pulsars are some of the densest objects in the universe. They are so dense that one spoon of the matter of a Pulsar has a mass equal to Mount Everest.

A Pulsar: 

Image Source: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-continues-to-study-pulsars-50-years-after-their-chance-discovery/

This Pulsar in specific has a diameter of 19 km but still has a mass of 1.4 times the mass of the Sun. Pulsars also spin violently fast and some can spin up to 700 times a second. The planet PSR J1719–1483 B orbits this Pulsar in 2 hours.

Another Planet that I’ll talk about is TrEs-4b which is one of the largest known planets in the universe. 

Image Source: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrES-4b

It is located 1400 light-years away from us in the Hercules Constellation. Even though this planet has a size, which is 1.7 bigger than that of Jupiter, it has a very low density and hence it is categorized as a ‘Puffy Planet’. The shocking thing is that the density of this planet is the same as cork which has shocked Astronomers. However, astronomers say that this phenomenon is due to the extremely high temperatures on the planet (1260 Celsius) because it orbits only at a distance of 7.2 million light-years away from its Star.

The last planet I’ll talk about is known as the Genesis Planet. This planet will shock you because it is extremely old. It is 12.7 billion years old and thus, it is also called Methuselah who was the oldest man according to the bible. The real astronomical name of the planet is PSR-B162028B. Another great thing about the planet is that it is the first one to orbit a star in a cluster of almost 100 thousand stars. Surprisingly, it orbits two stars with one being a neutron star that spins at the rate of 100 times per second.

Strangest Galaxies That Exist-2

March 8, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

As I explained in my first blog on this same topic, our universe is overwhelmingly huge. It extends over billions of light-years across. As we know, the larger something is, the easier it is to find extreme objects within. I have discussed many strange celestial bodies in my previous blogs but, in those blogs didn’t include galaxies. Hence, in this blog too I will cover some more strange galaxies we have discovered.

The first galaxy I’ll talk about is NGC 6946 which is also known as the Fireworks galaxy. This galaxy is also a cannibal galaxy just as Andromeda galaxy which will collide with our Milky way in just a few billion years. 

 

Image Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/fireworks-galaxy-ngc6946.html

NGC 6946 is eating up the mass of three of its companion galaxies and has already done eating half of their mass. It is called the fireworks galaxy due to huge number of supernovae (celestial bodies that are formed due to the explosion of a star when it runs out of fuel) in it. 

The galaxy I’ll talk about has a huge name; WISE J224607.57-052635.0. It is located in the Aquarius Constellation is a very bright galaxy that shines more than 300 trillion suns combined. 

 

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WISE_J224607.57%E2%88%92052635.0

Probably, there is a supermassive black hole at the center of this galaxy which has formed an accretion disk around it due to the gas, dust and space debris. These accretion disks are super-accelerated churning masses of particles that are among the brightest objects in the whole universe. The temperature of these disks reaches up to millions of degrees and emits Ultra-violet as well as X-rays due to which the clouds of dust around the black hole heat up. These clouds then radiate, making their parent galaxy insanely bright. 

Another strange galaxy that I’ll explain about is Messier 63 which is located 57 million light-years from us in the Canes Venatici Constellation. 

 

Image Source: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-63-the-sunflower-galaxy

This galaxy looks like a sunflower as it consists of a central disk which is surrounded by small sleeves that contain blue and white stars. The strange thing about this galaxy is that it has a strange ability to change its color. The core remains bright yellow and its sleeves change colors to blue, brown, white and purple. 

The last galaxy I’ll talk about is Messier 94 which is a spiral galaxy located in the Canes Venatici constellation, the same as the previous galaxy I talked about.

 

Image Source: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17011

When you look at this galaxy, it seems as if it’s a huge hurricane. You will get this perception because of the bright blue sleeves of rapidly forming stars that surround the galaxy. These stars are rapidly forming due to the pressure from the center of the galaxy which forces the gases to move to the sleeves of the galaxy forming gas clouds and then stars because these gases have star-forming material packed in them such as Hydrogen and Helium. 

In this blog which was the second of its topic, I explained some more strange galaxies that exist in our galaxies. There are many other galaxies that may be strange but I only highlighted the ones which seemed strange to me. 

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

The Starburst Galaxy

March 1, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

Our universe is overwhelmingly huge. It extends over billions of light-years across. As we know, the larger something is, the easier it is to find extreme objects within. I have discussed many strange celestial bodies in my previous blogs but, those blogs didn’t include galaxies. Hence, in this blog, I will cover a strange type of galaxy known as a starburst galaxy. 

Our night-sky is all covered by bright objects that are fascinating to gaze at. However, you are looking at those objects in the past. This phenomenon happens because as we know, the light also takes time to reach farther places. Therefore, the light from those distant objects also takes time to reach us. Let’s take the example of the closest start to us which is Proxima Centauri. It is approximately 4.2 light-years away from us. Thus, if the star explodes just right now, we will see the explosion after about 4 years because the light from the explosion will take 4 years to reach us in the speed of light.

The galaxy I'll explain briefly about is one of my favorites. It is a pair of galaxies known as ADFS-27. These galaxies belong to a rare group of celestial objects called Starburst galaxies. 

Image Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-017-07392-5

Some even refer to this pair as antennae galaxies. This is a very bright pair of galaxies located almost 12.6 billion light-years away from us. This means it took the light from these galaxies almost 12.6 billion years to reach us, which is almost the age of the whole universe. We are looking at this object 12.6 billion years in the past. This object is basically, two galaxies that are colliding/merging into each other which might be the most explosive and violent collision in the history of the universe. These galaxies are more than 10 times larger than the Milky Way galaxy. Stars are being produced in these galaxies almost 1000 times faster than our very own Milky Way and this just won’t stop because there are almost 50 times more star-forming materials in these galaxies than in the Milky Way. These galaxies just won’t stop forming stars and getting brighter for the next millions or even billions of years. Right now, the galaxy would’ve probably been formed but we can’t see that because time will take 12.6 billion years to reach us from this place. Most probably, the result of the collision will be an elliptical galaxy, which is the largest type of galaxies that exist in the universe. We don’t exactly know why these galaxies behave like this; what causes them to behave like this and what is their end result but whatever it is, we will soon find it out.

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.

Boötes Void

23rd February 2020

By: Haris Ahmad[1]

On this very own rocky planet Earth, we humans have made many discoveries and have uncovered places in the universe that are billions of light-years away from us. Though there are many secrets yet to uncover, there are some mysteries that we still can’t solve. In this vast vacuum of space, exist billions of objects that may be very creepy and nerve-racking due to their strange features. However, among all these strange objects, the greatest mystery is the literal nothingness. 

 

Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/331999803762953131/

It is the Boötes void. This is not just a small place; it is 350 million light-years in diameter. This makes it one of the biggest places in the universe. This creepy place has confused scientists from about 40 years but still, the scientists can’t find out how such a vast place of nothingness could even exist. In 1981, Robert Kirshner and his team were gazing at the universe for huge objects that were moving away from us due to the expansion of the universe but luckily, they found an empty place in the Boötes constellation approximately 700 million light-years away from us. Naturally, this place should contain approximately 10,000 galaxies and trillions of stars but it is just an empty place with nothing. After 40 years of research, they could only find 60 galaxies in this place. 
 

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C3%B6tes_void

We have found many voids and understood how they can exist but the problem with Boötes void is that how can avoid such big be situation such perfectly centered between a huge array of stars and galaxies. A scientist named Greg stated that if Earth would’ve been in the center of the void, we wouldn’t have found out that there were more galaxies until the 1960s. The main question is that how did this void form. Now, we know that voids are formed all the time which doesn’t defy any law of science. However. for a void of the size of Boötes void, the universe should be a lot older than we know for such a phenomenon to happen naturally. This even caused doubts against the big bang theory. 

There are some theories about this void with one being that some strange object in the void is pushing out dark energy throughout millions of light-years but as we don’t know much about dark energy, this theory is one that we are not much sure about yet. Some say that the galaxies all got into one point of singularity which may be a supermassive black hole but, this also remains a mystery because we don’t know much about the activity near black holes. Moreover, this theory also challenges the big bang as for the vast number of galaxies, moving into one spot would again suggest that the universe is older than we know. 

Furthermore, one likely theory that maybe they are coming together due to attraction at their boundaries and merging; moreover, the 60 galaxies in the void seem to have weird, tube-like shapes which may be the biggest clue to this mystery. Due to attraction at their boundaries, the small voids are emerging into each other in a soap bubble kind of phenomenon. The tube-like shapes of the galaxies may be caused by the remains of boundaries between two bodies. 

This void may remain a great mystery for the coming decades but soon, we will find out what is this and how it formed.  

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[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9^th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.